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WashPost has put together a database of 2015 police shootings broken down by a variety of options. They have, of course, decided to make it all about black people, but we can do better than them.

Here are the overall stats for all 585 deaths this year.

You can use the drop down to toggle different options on and off, like deaths where toy weapons played a role.

Play around with it for awhile.

• Do any of the stats go against what you assumed?
• Did you find any unarmed victim deaths that you would consider justified?
• Does it say anything to you that 35% of the overall victims were mentally ill?
• One thing it doesn't break down by is how many were admittedly suicidal, either by themselves saying it or the family confirming it after the fact. Most of the actual descriptions do specify but there's no filter. Is a suicide-by-cop a justified shooting?
• Share any other observations you think are interesting.

I thought more of the people shot would be younger. Huh.

I'm interested in the other ~560 deaths. I've heard of just a dozen from media sources, but I could be wrong and have missed out on several others. Do we only hear of the deaths which are more "what the fuck, man?"? Of the ones which are clearly the police's fault? I don't think I've seen any police death reports from the media of which is clearly the armed assailant's fault.

Edit: I'm both surprised yet unsurprised about the ratio of deaths between White and Black folks. On one hand, there is a majority of White folk in America. On the other hand, of those dozen deaths I said above, I believe only two of those deaths were Caucasian.

Of the unarmed victims, 24 were black and 18 were white.

Is the difference between these numbers smaller than anyone expected?
Is the total number of unarmed deaths overall smaller than you expected for the amount of media attention they've received?

You've also got to read some of the descriptions. This guy counts as unarmed:

{ Jamison Childress, an unarmed 20-year-old white man, was shot on March 19, 2015, on a street in Sumas, Wash. Childress, a murder suspect who had just illegally crossed into the United States from Canada, sprayed a chemical at U.S. Border Patrol agents who confronted him. His mother said he had been diagnosed with a mental illness. }

Here's one of those 24 unarmed black people:

{ Victor Emanuel Larosa, an unarmed 23-year-old black man, was shot on July 2, 2015, in a yard in Jacksonville, Fla. Larosa struck a Jacksonville police officer with his vehicle and rammed a police cruiser during a drug sting. He fled on foot and reached for his waistband as he turned toward police. }

I thought cars counted as weapons when you try to run people down with them?

Also in light of these stats, I want to add another question to the OP (could a mod edit it in maybe?)

• Do you think politicians should continue to apologize for saying things like "all lives matter"?

Honestly I hope no one sincerely believes the police should have to apologize for shooting a criminal who pulls a weapon on them, toy or otherwise. You don't fire a gun to "wound", you fire a gun to subdue. A moment of hesitation can cause more lives to be killed so the suggestion that cops should just "shoot their legs" always infuriates me.

…the suggestion that cops should just “shoot their legs…”

That's insane, cops should shoot anyone who poses a threat to them.I could suggest shooting a suspect on the leg if he is running away and unnamed.

>Weapon
>Deadly Weapon: 457
Excuse me, but isn't this data a bit too…generic? I'd expect something like edged/blunt/handgun, something like that, i do see some people with machete/knife in the list (and someone with a sword, what the heck). What about guns without any ammo? I'm not familiar with US legislation, but isn't a crime made "worse" if the suspect has a certain type of weapon?

They only take that into consideration in court. If you have a weapon and are potentially going to attack the public/police with it, they can technically shoot you. Some people argue for non-firearm weapons they should taze first but tasers are not super effective. If you notice, a lot of the descriptions say "stunned and shot" because the supposedly super powerful electric shock does very little to enraged, adrenaline-fueled criminals.

I'm killing niggers, killing niggers!

>toy gun deaths: 21
>under eighteen years old: 1
I really wasn't expecting that. The people most likely to be killed with a toy gun are adults.

Wisehowl said:

cops should just “shoot their legs”

It's not even so much about hitting them. The legs contain the femoral arteries, which, if cut open, will cause someone to bleed to death in a few minutes. You don't aim for the legs because it's more deadly than aiming for the big sack of muscles and non-vital organs.

So how are the statistics compared to last year?

Also, does police shooting mean:

Police shot someone?

Someone shot the police?

Police shot each other?

Someone shot with the police?

"Police shot someone?"

Yes

"Someone shot the police?"

No

"Police shot each other?"

Kek

"Someone shot with the police?"

Illegal, but not necessarily murderous